I recently authored an article for Strategic Consulting Solutions, Inc. (SCS) GovCon Advisor – a monthly news source for the government contracts industry. The article outlines the requirements of the Small Business Administration’s (SBA) All Small Mentor-Protégé Program (ASMPP), focusing on the Mentor-Protégé Agreement (MPA) and the recent Hendall case. As I point out, “The
Small Business Administration
You “CAN” Avoid Affiliation in Negotiating an Acquisition
Conditioned Agreements to Negotiate (CAN)
When acquiring or selling small businesses, government contractors need to be cognizant of the Small Business Administration’s (SBA) “present effect rule.” Under this rule, SBA will find that certain letters of intent (LOI) or other agreements to merge have a “present effect” on the buyer’s ability to control the small business seller. Numerous decisions by the SBA’s Office of Hearings and Appeals (OHA) have discussed the acceptable parameters of LOIs.
In a recent decision, OHA further refined the elements considered in the determination of whether an LOI amounts to an “agreement in principle.”
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Mentor Protégé Joint Venture Allowed to Proceed with Contract Even Though Ineligible to Bid
In an unsealed opinion on October 30, 2017, U.S. Court of Federal Claims Judge Nancy Firestone held that a company, which should have been deemed ineligible from bidding, was allowed to proceed with a contract award because cancelling the deal would be too harmful to the government.
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Reminder from SBA: Don’t Cross the Line and Become “Unduly Reliant”
Given the substantial benefits small businesses enrolled in the 8(a) Business Development Program receive, the Small Business Administration (SBA) has strict eligibility standards. To qualify for admission into the Program, a small business must be “unconditionally owned and controlled by one or more socially and economically disadvantaged individuals…” 13 C.F.R §124.10. While disadvantaged entities can have business relationships with non-disadvantaged entities they must be wary of not crossing the line from independence to dependence. When a relationship between a disadvantaged and non-disadvantaged entity becomes so close that independent business judgment by the disadvantaged entity is compromised, it can result in the disadvantaged entity’s termination from the 8(a) program. A recent case decided by the SBA serves as a friendly reminder of this important limitation.
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